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OBITUARY 



MRS. DEBORAH DEANE GEROULD 



DESIGNED FOR 



HER RELATIVES AND EEIENDS, 



gJUttUHffal 



OF 
THE PLEASANT RELATIONS THAT SUBSISTED BETWEEN THEM, AND OF HER 

MANY VIRTUES. 

TOGETHER WITH 

THE REMARKS OF HER SENIOR AND JUNIOR PASTORS 
AT HER FUNERAL. 

BY HER HUSBAND. 



BOSTON: 
PRESS OF J. E. FARWELL AND COMPANY, 

1865. 



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Miss Deborah Deane, daughter of Honorable 
Samuel Holmes Deane, of Dedham, was born at 
Dedham, Mass., June 20, 1790; married Mr. Samuel 
A. Gerould, May 3, 1820 ; settled in Keene, New 
Hampshire, where she resided until the day of her 
death, which took place January 15, 1865, at the 
age of 74 years, 6 months, and 25 days. 

She was the pattern of a good wife, discreet mo- 
ther, true friend, and kind neighbor. " She looked 
well to the ways of her household, and ate not the 
bread of idleness." 

After ten years of married life she, with her hus- 
band, joined the Church of Christ in a "covenant 
not to be broken." She was singularly undisturbed 
by the many conflicting religious creeds, adopting in 



4 IN MEMORIAM. 

the main that contained in the confession of the 
faith of her own church, and above all receiving 
into her inmost soul the teachings of the Great 
Master in his Sermon on the Mount. 

She died as she had lived, in peace with all 
mankind; with fortitude and resignation, "knowing 
in whom she believed." She looked forward, to the 
very last, with perfect composure and hope of a 
happy home, in her heavenly Father's house of 
many mansions, that her Divine Saviour had gone 
to prepare for all his beloved disciples. 

On the day of her funeral, as she lay in her 
casket, the placid appearance of comparative youth 
had returned, and she looked the personification of 
tranquillity and peace, — suggestive of that beautiful 
passage of Holy Writ : ' ' The peace of God, that 
passeth all understanding, shall keep your heart 
and mind through Christ Jesus our Lord;" and 
also of that most consoling one : i ' Blessed are the 
dead, which die in the Lord, that they may rest 
from their labors ; and their works do follow 
them." 



IN MEMOEIAM. 

" Dearest mother, thou hast left us, 
Here thy loss we deeply feel; 
But 'tis God who hath bereft us, — 
He can all our sorrows heal." 

" Yet- again we hope to meet thee — 
"When the day of life is fled; 
Then in heaven with joy to greet thee, 
Where no farewell tear is shed." 

Her funeral was attended by her sympathizing 
friends and neighbors, who bore testimony to her 
worth and mourn their loss. 

Select portions of Scripture were read, principally 
from Proverbs xxxi. chapter, from the tenth verse 
to the end, — that incomparable description of the 
virtuous woman. After which, a Prayer and the 
following 



REMARKS BY REV. J. A. HAMILTON. 

One who has long resided in our community is 
no more. Her spirit has gone to God, who gave 



6 IN MEMOEIAM. 

it. Her body we are about to commit to the tomb. 
Soon she will be with us only in memory ; and 
in that, how imperfectly, even in the recollection 
of those who knew her most intimately and affec- 
tionately ! The unnumbered little features of life, 
that were in her case, as they are in the case of 
every one, the substance of personal character, 
must grow dim with the lapse of time. How 
much less distinctly and completely, then, will the 
impression of what she was be retained at length 
by those to whom she was known only as a re- 
spected friend or neighbor ! 

But such limitations pertain not to the Divine 
memory. Before God, all, even to the minutest 
acts of a worthy life, will, like the prayers and alms 
of Cornelius, go ever up as a memorial. How con- 
soling this thought to those who are especially be- 
reaved in the present death ! Even if their memories 
of her prove to be imperfect, by reason of human 
frailty, she will still be held in full and everlast- 
ing remembrance by Him who sitteth in the heavens. 
In the more general and prominent features of her 
character, however, who that has had acquaintance 



INMEMORIAM. 7 

with her can ever fail to bear her clearly and vividly 
in mind ? Thus, how memorable her diligence as a 
wife and mother ! Was not her domestic industry 
proverbial ? Could any words more justly describe 
her character, in this respect, than those just read 
from the inspired wise man ? And yet how char- 
acteristically free she was from the disposition to 
display her rare devotion to these most important 
duties ! Nay, rather to what a remarkable extent 
she was exactly the reverse of this both in nature 
and practice ! So that we might truthfully say of 
her, as was said by another in beautiful tribute to 
an excellent lady of the past : ' « She was always 
busy and always quiet." 

I appeal in particular to the youthful members of 
this bereaved household, that they ever keep in mind 
and aim to imitate her, whose loss they are now 
called to mourn, in these marked and most worthy 
traits of her life. 

But she will also be distinctly remembered, by 
those who truly knew her, as a woman who feared 
the Lord. From early childhood she was faithfully 
instructed in the principles of the Christian religion. 



8 IN MEMORIAM . 

Thus she early learned to believe in and reverence 
the Holy Scriptures. In the tenth year of her mar- 
ried life she was led hopefully to the saving embrace 
of revealed truth, and soon became united with the 
professed people of God. For more than thirty 
years she has been identified with the Church of 
Christ here, which was the church of her choice ; and 
in all that time with what well-known steadiness 
and implicitness has she " adhered to the faith once 
delivered to the saints !" She received without gain- 
saying the pure teachings of the Divine Word, and 
enjoyed the meditation of the same; especially did 
she delight in the simple and blessed instructions 
of the Saviour. It was in these, more particularly, 
that she saw inculcated that genuine Christian charity, 
which in her view was of transcendent excellence, 
and supremely to be desired. Although ever loving 
her own communion above every other, she yet was 
no sectarian. She rejoiced in all, of whatever name, 
who truly believed in her Lord and Saviour. So 
that while living she was at peace with all man- 
kind, and dying she could confidently say, " I know 
in whom I have believed." 



IN MEMORIAM. V 

And now may the same confident belief be the 
sure possession of every heart in this sorrowing 
circle, supporting them in this present and in all 
coming trials, and preparing them at length for the 
glorious reunions and eternal felicities of the heaven- 
ly state, through infinite riches of grace in Jesus, 
the Redeemer. 



REMARKS BY REV. DR. BARSTOW. 

It may perhaps be expected of me, having been 
acquainted with Mrs. Gerould for more than forty 
years, to add to what my brother Hamilton has said 
in the words of the wise king of Israel : ' ' The 
heart of her husband safely trusted in her, so that 
he had no need of spoil. She did him good and not 
evil all the days of her life. She looked well to 
the ways of her household and ate not the bread of 
idleness. Her children rise up and call her blessed ; 
her husband also, and he praiseth her." 

In her case, surely, was verified the old English 
proverb : < < He who would make good thrift and lay 
up treasures must first ask his wife." 



10 IN MEMORIAM. 

Some thirty years since, Mrs. Gerould seemed to 
recall the teachings of her pious mother, and the 
pastoral instructions of her uncle, Reverend Jabez 
Chickering of Dedham, Massachusetts, as well as 
those of his successor, Reverend Doctor Cogswell, of 
blessed memory, who was afterward an esteemed 
Professor in Dartmouth College ; and, after long 
reflection and much self-examination, she humbly 
hoped in the mercy of Grod through our gracious 
Redeemer, and in company with her husband she 
united with this church.* And from that day to 
this she ' ' has known in whom she believed ; ' ' hold- 
ing fast to the instructions of her pastor, and the 
confession of her church, as well as the practical 
teaching of the Saviour in his Sermon on the 
Mount. 

As has been remarked by my brother, ' ' not 
being very demonstrative," it took a long time to 
become acquainted with her real character. Home 
was the sphere in which were witnessed her daily 
duties performed and her quiet industry; and few 

* The First Congregational, Keene, N. H. 



IN MEMOKIAM. 11 

perhaps, not particularly acquainted with these most 
valuable traits in her character, duly appreciated it 
in its full extent and variety. She was, as my 
brother has said, " a woman who feared the Lord," 
and Holy Inspiration hath enjoined, " She shall be 
praised." 

While she held fast to the faith in which she 
had been taught, she had true charity for all who 
loved the Lord in sincerity, and who walked worthy 
of their high vocation, whatever might be their 
denomination. 

During several years she has been a great in- 
valid and sufferer ; but patiently and submissively 
she met all, looking for the coming of her Lord, 
and expecting a happy home in some of the many 
mansions which her Saviour had gone to prepare. 

During her last illness she expressed fully to 
the speaker and to her husband her trust and hope 
in Jesus Christ, and her cheerful expectation of 
death. 

May her children and grandchildren follow her 
so far as she followed Christ, remembering all the 
valuable traits of her character ; and gather up the 



12 IN MEMOEIAM. 

instructions which she gave by precept and by her 
quiet example. The day cometh when you will need 
all the supports of true religion and the precious 
hope of an eternal inheritance in heaven. There- 
fore seek them with earnestness while you may. 
that so you may be prepared for the coming of 
the Lord Jesus unto eternal life. 

Prayer and benediction by Reverend Doctor Barstow, 
which closed the services at the house. 



[The photograph frontispiece is produced from a daguerreotype 
originally taken in the sixty-fourth year of her age.] 



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